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Friday, March 3, 2017

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour). One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

- John 1:35-42

We are reading through the Gospel of John. Yesterday, we read about the "second day" given in the Gospel, when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I
said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was
before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to
Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who
sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit
descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy
Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking
at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two
disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned,
and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?" They said
to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are
You staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where
He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the
tenth hour). One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon,
and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the
Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of
Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone). Christ's first disciples were first followers of John the Baptist. They were Andrew and Simon or Cephas (also known as Peter). Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of
Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).In following readings we will also read about Philip and Nathanael (also known as Bartholomew). There is also an unnamed disciples here in today's reading, who according to one tradition in the Church is John the author of the Gospel himself. It was a common literary practice for a writer not to name himself (see Luke 24:13).

Today's reading gives us events of the third day reported in John's Gospel, corresponding to the third day of creation in Genesis. John the Baptist sends two disciples to Christ whom Christ gathers to be His own, calling one of them the foundation of the Church. This parallels the gathering of the waters and the establishment of growth on the land in Genesis (Genesis 1:9-13). What we see are a lot of interesting links that come to the fore in this beginning of Jesus' ministry. There is first of all the crucial link of John the Baptist. As we've written in recent readings, he's the last and the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. He is the connection between the Old and the New Covenants; he is the one who testifies that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. He also leads his disciples to become the first disciples of Jesus. We have to look at this "interconnectedness" of Jesus' ministry. While the Incarnation itself is something entirely new being brought into the world, it neither comes in a vacuum nor without preparation. Just as the story of Jesus' birth was both foretold by prophecy and attended by those who witnessed the birth of a King, so the beginning of this ministry comes within its own context of preparedness for what was to come. John the Baptist guides his disciples to Jesus, and they include the one Jesus names Stone, the one to whom He will say at his confession of faith that upon this rock He would build His Church. There is the interconnectedness of His disciples themselves. We begin in today's reading with the first disciples, which includes one set of brothers, Peter and Andrew. John himself, the author of the Gospel, is included in these first disciples who come to Christ, and his brother James will also be a disciple. As one disciple is found through the Baptist, so those go and find others. What we may observe in these early moments in Jesus' ministry is again similar to the quality of the story of His birth, in which so many different actors come together as if in a kind of plan or script which we can't predict. Somehow they are connected, and it is in the unfolding of that connectedness that we have the story of Christ and the unfolding story of His Church. Just as this third day of John's Gospel bears a correlation to the third day of creation in Genesis, so this ministry is filled and will manifest myriad glimmers of understanding already present in the stories of the Old Testament, but fulfilled through Christ in a way no one could really predict. And this is the work of holiness. It is that which is fulfilled and unfolds through the action of grace, of God's energies in the world. It reveals connections we didn't know about, it unfolds its own relations and its own wisdom. It teaches us the fulfillment of the Old, and it gives us the New, revealing what was prophesied but never predictable. It is in John's Gospel that Jesus will teach, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). God's surprising action does not happen according to worldly ways of seeing, but reveals deeper connections and true reality. Can we see it? Can we hear it? He is the way.

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